Curriculum: Class 5

(The class happened before Double Wars; I'm writing it up after Double Wars - some memory loss will have occurred.)

I had been reminded of the importance of warm-up, so we went through a few warm-up exercises as a group: First some gentle running across the length of the covered yard, followed by some sideways canter. The ground at our practice place is artificial lawn, so it's not something that particularly encourages burpees, bear walk or similar. We did squats and lunges instead.

1. Revision: footwork and the Compass Drill

We spent a few minutes revising footwork. I introduced the Compass Drill, as learned from Duke Sean - stepping in all the directions of the compass without crossing your feet, in both directions. I had the learners go through the drill first as it was, and then had them repeat the drill stepping around a person standing in the middle, so that they could see how the exercise worked in practice. 

2. Revision: Minimum blocking

We took another few minutes to remind ourselves of the basics of shield work in terms of moving it the minimum amount necessary to block the incoming shot.

3. Three states of shieldwork

I introduced the notion that your shield has three different states.

1) If you have not engaged, or are not in an active situation (for instance, during breaks between bouts), you shield is at rest. A strapped heater wearer like myself is likely to have their arm resting, pointing down, with the shield just hanging on as an attachment. The shield provides no protection. As it is important to conserve energy, you want to make sure your shield is at rest whenever possible.

2) As you prepare to engage, you bring your shield to its guard position, but, for the moment, the protection the shield provides is passive. Your opponent may be able to strike you over the shield's top edge, or around its sides. Your shield is on standby.

3) On engagement, you activate the shield. For me, due to the way my shield is strapped, this means pulling the straps my left hand is grasping more strongly, effectively towards me, so that the point of the shield is raised. You are now fully protected and your shield should be ready to react at the shortest possible notice. Your shield is now active.

These states may be different for centre grip users, but I do not feel fully qualified to discuss those kind of shields.Transitions from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3, obviously, depend on the situation.

4. Range

We spent the rest of the class discussing and practicing concepts of range. My thinking of it is strongly influenced by Count Wlfric and his classes on the subject I took a few years ago.

"A" range - You are up close and personal with your opponent. For most people, it is very difficult to conduct any reasonable actions from here as you are blocked by the opponent's body as much as their weapon and shield.

"B" range - You are at a comfortable range regarding your opponent. You have enough space between yourself and them to operate, and you are able to hit your opponent without reaching or having to take an extra step.

"C" range - In order to reach your opponent with a good blow, you need to take a step.

"D" range - You are fully out of range of your opponent, but the engagement has started.

"F" range - The engagement has not yet started.

I pointed out that in a fight, ranges of different people may be different becauses of differences in height and positioning. I invited the learners to consider and practice how they could position themselves best in order to gain advantage over their opponent. How does the positioning change, when the main intention is to strike, and how does it change, when the main intention is to block?

We will be working on range much more in future practices. The learners have now learned how to use the sword and how to use the shield - the next stage is learning how to use them together.


The curriculum will be disrupted for the summer, as one of the new fighters has travelled to Calontir to work there until early autumn, and another has decided that fighting is not for them at this point. We have a further new learner, who started several weeks after the others, so I intend to be primarily working with them until they catch up, at which point we can proceed with two people at roughly at the same point of their learning.